Workflow Validation for Checkbox is Null

[Stephanie Blair]

Has anyone been able to add in a workflow validator between statuses to only fire if a checkbox is null? 

[Gabriela]

Hi @Stephanie Blair

Yes, this is built in, no app needed. On a company-managed workflow, open the workflow, click the transition between the two statuses, and under Validators add a Field Required Validator pointing at your checkbox field. It blocks the transition whenever that field is empty, and for a multi-select checkbox "empty" means no option ticked, so that's your null case.

The thing that catches people out is the field has to be on the transition screen, otherwise the user can't set it and the transition just always fails. So add a screen to that transition with the checkbox on it.

If it turns out to be a team-managed project, there's no field-required validator there, so you'd lean on Restrict transition or the Remind people to update fields rule, though the reminder only nudges rather than enforces.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira/kb/require-field-edit-when-transitioning-the-status-of-a-jira-work-item/

Best, Gabriela

[Stephanie Blair]

Essentially, we only want to enforce certain fields to be populated when the SDLC process is required to be fired. So we have a checkbox noting when tickets are "SDLC Exempt" and we only want to enforce population when it's null. 

[Stephanie Blair]

It's more that I need one workflow to fire when the checkbox is null and a different workflow to fire when the checkbox is checked.

Apologies, I'm still learning the verbiage here. I think what I should have said was, "Has anyone been able to add in a workflow criteria between statuses to only fire a validator if a checkbox is null? 

[Gabriela]

Ah, that changes it. The built-in Field Required validator fires on every run of that transition, so there's no native setting to have it only kick in when the SDLC Exempt checkbox is empty. Native conditions and validators can't read the value of a custom checkbox to decide whether to run.

To get the conditional part you'd need one of the workflow apps that adds a scoped validator. JMWE, JSU and ScriptRunner all let you wrap a Field Required validator with a Jira expression, so you set it to only run when the checkbox is empty. A checkbox comes back as a list in those expressions, so empty means the list has no entries, something like customfield_xxxxx == null or its size being zero.

If you'd rather stay app-free, the other route is two transitions between the same statuses, but you'd hit the same wall since native conditions can't branch on the checkbox either, so the enforcement wouldn't be conditional. The app validator is the way to get the conditional SDLC-exempt split you're describing.